In Valleys of Green Where Ivy Grows
by shang-wombat
Summary: A young woman who possesses an uncanny skill with plants finds her way into the care, and under the instruction of a certain former streetrat. B/UOC **Please R&R!!***


Disclaimer: I OWN NONE OF THIS!!! ( Though, Frequently, I wish I owned Briar *drules*)  
  
Rating: PG-13 - For now ( sexual-type content is immanent)  
  
Summary: A young woman who possesses an uncanny skill with plants finds her way into the care, and under the instruction of a certain former streetrat. B/UOC **Please R7R!!***  
  
Acinus Dissero - "To sew the seeds"  
  
  
PLEASE R&R!!!!!!!!  
Briar Moss strode lazily down an unfamiliar street, watching the hot Mediterranean sun dip beneath the Chammuri skyline. His former teacher, Dedicate Rosethorn, had once told him that Chammur was old. At the time, the young mage hadn't felt the weight of that statement. He felt it now. The city sagged beneath the burden of centuries of inhabitants, until the rock into which it was built seemed to sink into the dust. Briar seriously doubted these foundations would hold out another decade. It had been fourteen years since he'd last walked these streets, and the city seemed no different. It was just as he remembered it, old, dry, and baron of most vegetation. Fourteen years was mearly a grain of sand in the vast desert of time that was Chammur's history. Here, days seemed like years, minutes stretching like hour beneath the garish sun. Chammuri nights, however, were longer still. At night it's ancient stone hummed with the activity of the city's inhabitants. The narrow streets pulsed with life, throbbing with the day's heat, and the growing tension of gang activities. Tensions crackled and fizzled manifesting themselves in the form of small spurts, but slowly tummulting to what would be a colossal explosion.  
  
The mage stopped, suddenly uneasy. Briar had been born a thief, and generally trusted his instincts. Quickly, he scanned the streets looking for an unknown observer. When he saw nobody, he continued towards the Golden House, picking up his pace so as to arrive before the merchants packed in their booths for the night. Briar reached the market in a matter of minuets after remembering the more efficient way of local travel, via the rooftops. The Mage headed straight for one particular booth. The man there sold an odd variety of potent magical herbs and oils. It was one of these such oils that briar had come for. Extracted from the root of a rare tree, grown only in the most northern regions. The man in the booth nodded his greeting. After hearing what briar wanted, the man's eyes widened and his voice sank to a hushed whisper. Briar spoke some Chammuri, enough to understand what the merchant said.   
  
"What you have asked me for is a rare item indeed... I will have to charge a higher price in order to compensate for the risk I took in bringing it here."   
  
The mage had expected this, though the price the man named caused him to flinch slightly.  
  
" I am not the fool you've mistaken me for." He said quietly in Chammuri. The older man's features hardened.   
  
"That is my price" He said firmly. "I am a poor man! My children are starving-"   
  
Briar raised a cool eyebrow glancing down at the merchant's richly embroidered hose. "You don't know starvation." He said calmly.   
  
Reluctantly, Briar retrieved his money pouch from it's secret location. On the inside of all his shirts, his foster sister Sandry had sewn a secret breast pocket.   
  
"I'll pay you half" He said, producing the coins "Which is more that a fair price"  
  
The vendor glared at the former streetrat, before finally passing a small vial across the length between them. A grin split briar's face, as he tucked the vial and his money pouch back into their secret compartment.  
  
Pleased with himself Briar turned to return home. "Home" These past few weeks had been a small dwelling just East of the Road of Kings and the Street of Wells. He had not yet reached the exit of the market when a voice made him jump.  
  
"You know, I hope, that he just rolled ya."  
  
The mage turned to face the speaker, a young girl, who lounged in the shadows cast by the dying rays of the Chammuri sun. Briar, who had belatedly realised that she was speaking in Common, raised an eyebrow.   
  
" You heard that?" He asked in the same language.   
  
She shrugged slightly "I hear a lot of things."   
  
Briar was vaguely reminded of himself at a younger age.   
  
"Oh, It's not a bad price" She said, misreading his curious glance. " If you got what you paid for."  
  
Briars hand flew to his secret shirt pocket, withdrawing the small vial. After prodding it with his magic, he eyed the shadow girl suspiciously. What was she playing at?   
  
"It's what I want." He confirmed.  
  
"You wanted rain water?" she asked sweetly.   
  
Briar blanched uncorking the vial. Suddenly, the distinct feeling of magic vanished, leaving only the sense of water. The mage cursed, staring straight at the shadow-girl.  
  
"How...?" He asked sharply.   
  
The girl grinned impishly, stepping into the light. "You Pahans are all alike, you feel for the power of the stuff, without actually opening the vial."   
  
Briar was taken aback, his adversary was no girl...but a young woman. She was small in stature. A large, filthy shirt and frayed breeches covered what would presumably be a fragile frame. A soft-set mouth and delicate nose were almost lost beneath the dirt and grime of the street. Intense green eyes peered at him keenly from beneath the tatters of a whitish kerchief. The remnants of the cloth tying back, what appeared to be, a mass of reddish-brown tangles from the woman's face. She snatched the vial from his grasp carefully turning it over in her small fingers, before returning it to the Mage.   
  
"Tsukan is old. He's good at this game you're playing Pahan, better than you. He would never sell anything unless it lined his pockets quite substantially, he does not like to make bargains."  
  
Briar looked at the vial with disbelief "But the effort involved in spelling a bottle..." His voice trailed off as the street girl shrugged,  
  
"Who said life was easy?"   
  
Briar tucked his very expensive water back into his money pouch, and extended a hand for the young woman to shake.  
  
"I m Briar" He said "Briar Moss."   
  
The woman smiled taking the offered hand. As their skin touched, she paused to smell the air. Suddenly, the young woman's body erupted in a ground shaking sneeze, jarring her so badly that she collapsed foreword onto his chest.   
"Rosefever" she muttered, pulling back abruptly, "Sorry."   
  
Briar grinned boyishly, "Don't be" he said honestly, "It isn't every day damsels fling themselves into my outstretched arms.  
  
The young woman blushed, staring at her feet. When she finally did look up, Briar could see an odd look in her face. Suddenly, her eyes went wide with fear as she stared, transfixed, at a spot just above Briar's left shoulder. He spun around, and after seeing nothing returned to question this mysterious girl, only to find her gone. "Clever" he muttered as he continued on his way. There was something, however, about her abrupt departure that bothered him. What had she taken? Instinctively he reached for his secret breast pocket. Digging around his hand met with nothing except a tattered piece of parchment. "You've been bit" It read in clear Chammuri, underneath was a crude drawing of pointed object beside the word "Thakki." Briar frowned "Thakki" was the Chammuri word for "tooth" or "teeth" which seemed odd. Why would a pickpocket leave a note? His annoyance quickly turned to awe as he thought about the skill with which it had been done. She hadn't even touched him....except when they'd shaken hands....and she'd sneezed, colliding with him. Still, shed only made contact for a few seconds...just long enough to pick a pocket! Briar continued to stare at the parchment. Marveling not only at the girls skill, but his own stupidity. It was now fully dark, and the mage was less than fond of Chammur's many alleyways at night. At home, Briar set aside the note and the mysterious thief-girl, to ponder another day.  
  
****YAY!!!! Chapter one in finished!!! HUZZAH!!!!*****  
  
Whatd'ya think??  
  
OK, I've got a favor to ask of anyone who's actually managed to read this far without getting bored and giving up on my story...What would be a good 'mage name' for Briar??!!  
  
Put your suggestions in reviews!!!!!  
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


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